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Mirova and Carbone 4 to jointly develop an innovative method for measuring companies’ contribution to the energy transition

30/03/2015

Mirova, Natixis Asset Management’s subsidiary for responsible investment, will draw on the expertise of Carbone 4 to jointly develop a methodology and decision-making tool that can measure companies’ contribution to the reduction in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Mirova’s fundamental ambition is to place sustainable development issues at the core of its investment process in order to generate a positive impact on the economy and attractive and sustainable returns for its clients. Naturally, the company has therefore joined the "Montreal Carbon Pledge" and "Portfolio Decarbonization Coalition" initiatives, launched in parallel by the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance (UNEP-fi) in the run-up to the COP 21 (2015 Climate Change Conference in Paris).

These commitments include carbon footprint measurement for Mirova’s investments in listed equities, with a view to reaching a level compatible with the target set by the international community, i.e. to limit global warming to +2°C.

Reaching this climate target will first and foremost require significant investments in the areas of carbon-free energy and energy-efficient solutions. In addition to the need to estimate the carbon footprint of its investments, Mirova has therefore felt the need to introduce a methodology to measure their contribution to the desired energy transition scenario.

With this in mind, Mirova has joined forces with Carbone 4, a consulting firm that has notably developed the carbon inventory method and the method for carbon analysis of projects financed by the French Agency for Development (AFD). The joint development of this methodology will enable Carbone 4 to freely assist all investors that want to take into account the risks and opportunities linked to climate change issues in their investment decisions.

The methodological principles will be published in September 2015 and will be shared with all financial actors that are interested in this approach.

Founded by Alain Grandjean and Jean-Marc Jancovici, Carbone 4 is a leading independent consulting firm, specialized in energy transition, that offers its expertise to private or public players. Convinced that anticipation of the constraints of climate change is the best option, Carbone 4 assists its clients to help them transform these constraints into a tremendous innovation accelerator, a commercial differentiator and a motivation for teams. In the financial sector, Carbone 4 develops methodologies and tools adapted to each business to enable them to measure and highlight the carbon impact of investments and their contribution to the energy transition.www.carbone4.com

About Mirova

Mirova offers a global responsible investing approach involving Equities, Fixed Income, Infrastructure, Impact Investing, and Voting and Engagement. It has €4.5 billion in assets under management and €38.3 billion in Voting and Engagement. It has a team of some 40 multidisciplinary experts (specialists in thematic investment management, engineers, financial and environmental, social and governance analysts, project financing specialists and experts in solidarity finance).www.mirova.com @Mirova_RI

About Natixis Asset Management

With assets under management of €313.3 billion and 648 employees (1), Natixis Asset Management ranks among the leading European asset managers.

Natixis is the corporate, investment, insurance and financial services arm of Groupe BPCE, the 2nd-largest banking group in France with 36 million clients spread over two retail banking networks, Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne.

With more than 16,000 employees, Natixis has a number of areas of expertise that are organized into three main business lines: Wholesale Banking, Investment Solutions & Insurance, and Specialized Financial Services.

A global player, Natixis has its own client base of companies, financial institutions and institutional investors as well as the client base of individuals, professionals and small and medium-size businesses of Groupe BPCE’s banking networks.www.natixis.com